Why does artisanal gold mining expand rapidly across Africa despite criminalisation? This book takes you inside an occupation of Obuasi, a historic mining town in Ghana's and South Africa's 'zama zama' in deindustrialising Ekurhuleni. You will delve deep into cases where large-scale gold mines were in decline how these localised trends are a direct product of free-market reforms and intersecting ecological and social reproduction crisis. Weaving together the theories of Karl Marx, Jarius Banaji, and Max Ajl, I argue that artisanal mining fills a vacuum left by states and large corporations. For a ground-breaking analysis that links local mining struggles to global capitalism's crises, this is your essential read.